My first stop in Sudan was the village of Nasir. It is located along the banks of the Sobat River about 15 miles from Ethiopia. Nasir has a lot of history and seen its share of tragedy as well. Tens of thousands died here during the fighting and famines that occurred during the civil war in the early 1990s. Even more recently, a week before I arrived in Nasir, 27 United Nations boats carrying food to a nearby tribe were attacked and as many as 40 soldiers were killed and several women and children traveling on the boats died as well.
After landing on the dirt airstrip Peter Swann, executive director of Aid Sudan, and a short term team that had been in Nasir about a week met the plane. The team left on the plane leaving Peter and I behind. We headed first to Aid Sudan’s compound in Nasir. The compound consists of 4 tukuls, or mud huts, and a larger rectangular hut where we have our Bible school. The first class of 18 graduated back in March. Some of the women helped with our luggage as we headed to the compound. Three pieces contained equipment for the radio station and weighed about 60 pounds each. But it was no problem for these women who placed the suitcases on their heads and led the way to the compound.
Once getting settled into the tukul, we had rice and beans for lunch and then headed over to the latest addition to the Nasir skyline- Aid Sudan’s radio tower. As we approached I could see a crowd of about 70 or 80 people, mostly children, watching the construction of this tower which will rise about 200 feet above the plain once it is finished. Each element of the tower is about 10 feet in height and is hoisted up by rope and pulley to two guys waiting at the top of the tower who then bolt that section into place. When we got there, they were about to lift the last element to the climbers. Once the rope was attached to the element, all of the kids and several adults including myself got on the rope to help lift the element to the top. It was awesome to see so many kids participate in this project which will be a source of pride for this village and which will help to bring about so much change here. In a couple of months this tower will broadcast an “oral Bible” in the Dinka and Nuer languages. It will support the church planting work of the pastors in the area, many of whom graduated from the Bible school, and also the work of Jengmer Yat. Jengmer is a missionary with Aid Sudan. He was one of the “lost boys” who was forced to flee Sudan many years ago. Now he is returning to his people and training them to plant churches in villages all around Nasir.
As I went to sleep that night, I reflected on how my first day in Sudan had given me a great picture of what Aid Sudan is all about. We want to be a blessing to the people of south Sudan, but we do not want to do everything for them. We want them to take pride in and ownership of the projects we do. We encourage village members to participate in projects like the radio tower and therefore feel a part of the work. Likewise Sudanese are hired to maintain and operate all aspects of the Aid Sudan compound. We seek to train and equip a few Sudanese in the area of church planting, people like Jengmer. He can then identify future Christian leaders among his people and train them in a way that is culturally appropriate. We want to provide the infrastructure that will help to prompt change in the villages of Sudan, but then allow the Sudanese to do the real work of changing their own culture. We believe that this will result in change that occurs on a deeper level and that the churches that are planted will truly be Sudanese churches, founded upon the authority of Scripture, yet culturally Sudanese, and therefore better equipped to bring about spiritual revival in south Sudan. It reminded me of why I felt led to join this organization, and it was a great confirmation to see it in action during my day in Nasir.
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